Pataki cannot be the GOP candidate in 2008

Deroy Murdock at National Review has a thorough review of George Pataki's 10-year stewardship of the Empire State.

The Pacific Research Institute recently measured economic freedom in all 50 states. ...New York State was dead last at No. 50. It was rated... 50th on government size, welfare spending, and income redistribution.

...and my wife wonders why I am so hot to get out of this state. But, our mutual love of family keeps us here, near our kids' grandparents and great-grandparents.

I also find interesting that 20.26 percent of New Yorkers are on Medicaid. Is it really a tremendous surprise to hear that number, when one can scarcely turn on the TV without seeing the Governor recruiting new mouths to the government teet? One thing I can say, and here I demonstrate my ignorance, is that I was not aware that Healthy NY, or whatever the hell it's called, is a Medicaid program.

I must admit that I am guilty of feeding at the public trough, but only for 2 brief months back in 1998. When my family moved back to NY after 3+ years in Texas, we would have no health insurance for 2 months. We had very little money saved from our foray into military life and the then-recently-passed COBRA laws only said that your previous insurers had to cover you, not that they had to cover you cheaply. We both found this unacceptable for the kids, who were 4 and 2 at the time. So, we took advantage of a program NY had at the time called ChildHealthPlus. If I remember correctly, we paid $13 per child per month for health insurance coverage by BC/BS. Keep in mind that the wife and I did without health insurance for those 2 months. It was a calculated risk, but we are both healthier-than-average adults. Luckily, not one of us had to visit a doctor in that time period.

Then again, there was the time that I filed for unemployment benefits back in 1993. I never collected because I couldn't go to the unemployment office for my next appointment.....I had to work that day. ;-)

There are many more interesting statistics in the article, but I will leave it to you to read the rest.

Recently, I told a friend that the only reason I would vote for Pataki is to get him out of New York. But, I couldn't really do that to the rest of the country. Right now, I'm more worried about whether or not he is going to seek his 4th term as governor in 2006. I really hope not, because I can't bring myself to vote for Eliot Spitzer for Governor.

The day the music died

Unfortunately, Rochester radio has lost another member of its family.

92.5 - WBEE-FM's Morning Coffee Club Co-host Bill Coffey passed away on 12/6/2004 of an apparent heart attack.

Mornings will never be the same again, Bill. May you rest in peace.

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Sage Words From Jim Carrey?!?!?!

This via Drudge.

"I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian. I'm whatever you want me to be...it all comes down to the same thing," he tells Kroft.

That is perhaps the smartest thing I have ever heard come out of Hollywood, and it has to come from one of the funniest men in the business?

It sounds like Jim Carrey may have found true enlightenment. May Buddha/Allah/God bless you, Jim Carrey!

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Post-Therapy Kerry Supporter Speaks Out Publicly

(Hat Tip: Drudge)

Karen, whose medical insurance covers the treatment...

If I heard the Kerry '04 campaign correctly, I thought nobody in America had medical insurance. I thought that's why he wanted to give us his.

"Dr. Schooler absolutely understood the pain this election caused me...,"

I'm sure that $150/hour had nothing to do with his *choke* understanding *cough*

"...and he opened my mind to a new point of view," Karen said.

I thought liberals were already open-minded. In fact, I would say most liberals are so open-minded that their minds fell out a long time ago.

Why can't the left get the hint that we heard their message loud and clear and that more than half of us have no interest in entitlements and wealth redistribution?

Just what I was thinking

This thought, in one form or another, has been bouncing around in my head for months. Leave it to a satirist to put the thought to cyber-paper.

Note for the incredibly thin-skinned: ScrappleFace is strictly satire. If I have to explain satire, do us both a favor and don't click the link!

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Pretty well sums up liberals

You really need to read this over at Cold Fury.

I especially like the part about the liberals not even believing half of what they say:

You don’t even believe half the stuff you’re currently crying about yourselves.

Because if you did, you wouldn’t be talking about it. You wouldn’t be writing whiny letters to the editor; you wouldn’t be fearfully mincing down to the Canadian Consulate to half-seriously inquire about moving; you wouldn’t be sitting in coffee houses denouncing the moronic inhabitants of Jesusland with your fellow smug, self-satisfied pseudo-hip doofuses. You’d be gearing up and arming yourselves for the fight of your lives. And much to your surprise, you’d have a lot of us over here on the right offering to help load mags.

I guess actions speak louder than words. If liberals really believed half of the crap they were spewing, they would be revolting against the establishment, instead of just revolting.

Michael Jackson blasts rapper Eminem over music video

What's the matter, Michael. Does the truth hurt?

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11-Year-Old Girl Suspended For 'Dangerous' Cartwheels At School

You have got to be kidding me!!!!! When I was growing up, we used to play "Kill the Man With the Ball," which sounds a hell of a lot more dangerous than just about any gymnastics move you could do on a playground.

In fact, a game of "Kill the Man" cost me a pair of glasses.

A Little Common Sense, Please

I was just reading an article on Foxnews.com about how some local ABC affiliates around the country were refusing to show Saving Private Ryan for fear of incurring the wrath of the FCC.

Most of the concern comes from the 2004 Super Bowl baring of Janet Jackson's breast, Bono's comments at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, and, of course, the ever-offensive Howard Stern.

One important distinction that these midwest prudes, and the FCC, need to remember is that these were all LIVE events which are, by nature, unpredictable. Saving Private Ryan, on the other hand, was filmed years ago, reviewed by the MPAA, and given an appropriate rating. Sufficient warnings are posted at the beginning of the movie. If you don't know what to expect when you tune in to a pre-recorded movie, then you have much bigger problems than hearing the occasional F-bomb on network TV.

Can we all, nationwide, just use a little common sense? If you are tuned in to a live event, you should have a reasonable expectation of whether or not to expect profanity or partial nudity, based on the station you are watching and the time of day. In cases like Janet Jackson, Bono, and Howard Stern, I would like to see the FCC nail them to the wall. However, a movie like Saving Private Ryan, given proper warnings, should cause no controversy.

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